No cause yet for sewage spill

Updated 11:03 am, Tuesday, October 16, 2012

A large sewage spill created a big mess and spread throughout the upper part of the East Branch of the Harbor around Czescik Marina and the nearby city wastewater treatment plant in Stamford, Conn. on Friday, Oct. 12, 2012. The spill appears too large to contain and when the tide turns, the floating, stinking mounds of effluent will be swept into the Sound.

A large sewage spill created a big mess and spread throughout the upper part of the East Branch of the Harbor around Czescik Marina and the nearby city wastewater treatment plant in Stamford, Conn. on Friday,

A large sewage spill created a big mess and spread throughout the upper part of the East Branch of the Harbor around Czescik Marina and the nearby city wastewater treatment plant in Stamford, Conn. on Friday, Oct. 12, 2012. The spill appears too large to contain and when the tide turns, the floating, stinking mounds of effluent will be swept into the Sound.

A large sewage spill created a big mess and spread throughout the upper part of the East Branch of the Harbor around Czescik Marina and the nearby city wastewater treatment plant in Stamford, Conn. on Friday,

Untreated, raw sewage fouls the water in Stamford. The spill happened on Friday, Oct. 12, 2012.

Untreated, raw sewage fouls the water in Stamford. The spill happened on Friday, Oct. 12, 2012.

Photo: The Advocate

Image 4 of 8

Untreated, raw sewage fouls the water in Stamford. The spill happened on Friday, Oct. 12, 2012. The spill appears too large to contain and when the tide turns the floating, stinking mounds of effluent will be swept into the Sound.

Untreated, raw sewage fouls the water in Stamford. The spill happened on Friday, Oct. 12, 2012. The spill appears too large to contain and when the tide turns the floating, stinking mounds of effluent will be

Untreated, raw sewage fouls the water in Stamford. The spill happened on Friday, Oct. 12, 2012. The spill appears too large to contain and when the tide turns the floating, stinking mounds of effluent will be swept into the Sound.

Untreated, raw sewage fouls the water in Stamford. The spill happened on Friday, Oct. 12, 2012. The spill appears too large to contain and when the tide turns the floating, stinking mounds of effluent will be

Untreated, raw sewage fouls the water in Stamford Harbor. The spill happened on Friday, Oct. 12, 2012. The spill appears too large to contain and when the tide turns the floating, stinking mounds of effluent will be swept into the Sound.

Untreated, raw sewage fouls the water in Stamford Harbor. The spill happened on Friday, Oct. 12, 2012. The spill appears too large to contain and when the tide turns the floating, stinking mounds of effluent

Untreated, raw sewage fouls the water in Norwalk. The spill happened on Friday, Oct. 12, 2012.

Untreated, raw sewage fouls the water in Norwalk. The spill happened on Friday, Oct. 12, 2012.

Photo: The Advocate

Image 8 of 8

No cause yet for sewage spill

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STAMFORD -- Video gathered by police from the area of a large sewage spill on the East Branch of the Stamford Harbor on Friday did not show anyone doing anything unusual or create any leads that could determine the mess' origin, Stamford Police Chief Jon Fontneau said Monday.

"There hasn't been the identification of any suspect and that includes from the video," he said.

"If they determine criminal charges should be levied on someone, they will return to us," Fontneau said. "To date, they have not made a determination where the spill has come from."

Chakravarti declined comment, referring questions to Operations Director Ernie Orgera, who did not return a call for comment.

City Health and Public Safety Director Ted Jankowski said the DEEP and city investigation is ongoing and he is still awaiting lab results on the spill to officially confirm the material was sewage.

In response to a resident's request, the city Health Department is also following up on whether underground tanks or former sewage pump-out facilities for boats on lower Canal Street could have discharged the spill, Jankowski said.

"It's not really pointing in that direction as of yet," he said.

Jankowski said based on spill volume, it is thought the likely cause is an illegal discharge by a sewage hauler through a storm drain near the waterfront.

Investigators from the DEEP's Municipal Facilities Division have yet to rule out any causes, said Dennis Schain, an agency spokesman.

The spill could have been an illegal sewage discharge, Schain said, but environmental officials are also considering a discharge from wastewater treatment or sewage pump out operation at a marina outside of Stamford on Long Island Sound.

"It could have come from somewhere else," Schain said.

Last week, the DEEP determined the nearby WPCA, Stamford's wastewater treatment facility, was not responsible for the spill. The WPCA had been penalized recently for improperly bypassing sewage into Stamford Harbor.

The spill was reported about 7:30 a.m. Friday by city residents, when sewage was visible through the upper part of the harbor's East Branch, near Czescik Marina and the WPCA treatment plant.

Maureen Boylan, a Shippan resident, said she believed the city had downplayed the spill's size; she also believes investigators should not turn aside consideration whether the spill originated from a holding tank from an active or inactive marina operation along the East Branch.

"Unless they have it on camera showing that somebody dumped it, I don't believe it for a second," Boylan said. "I don't believe it for a second and neither do the taxpayers."

Carl Bochterle, dockmaster at the 100-slip Harbor House Marina, questioned the city's claim the spill was too large to contain and clean up, as well as the DEEP decision to rely on tides to disperse the effluent from the area.

"If your toilet overflowed would you clean it up or wait for nature to do it for you? They waited for the tide to turn and now it will possibly be somebody else's problem," Bochterle said. "Why should all of that crap end up in Long Island Sound with all the efforts to clean it up?"